Best
paper and presentation awards

Title of paper: Participatory
varietal selection in Togo: an approach being applied with a view to the
rapid adoption of a new generation of high-performing varieties of
upland and lowland rainfed-rice

Title of paper:
Did the recent global rice crisis enhance rice yield in Africa?

Outstanding rice
entrepreneurs10 Nominations from West and Central
Africa

Mechanization
Malick Ndiaye, AGRITECH, Senegalese by nationality, Malick is highly
respected agriculture engineer in West Africa. He is a former
mechanization expert of WARDA (now AfricaRice). His company, AGRITECH,
produces small scale machineries for rice farmers. He has trained
hundreds of local manufacturers in 10 West African countries. He has
collaborated with AfricaRice and other research institutions over the
last 15 years. Because of his pioneering work, a thresher-cleaner based
on an original design from IRRI has been adapted to African conditions.
There are now hundreds of these thresher cleaners in Senegal, Mali,
Mauritania, Chad to name just a few countries. He is truly a worthy
recipient of the outstanding rice entrepreneur award. He has also
developed a first prototype of a mini combine harvester based on a
design from PhilRice of the Philippines, now being tested in Mali and
Senegal. This mini-combine harvester addresses harvest and post harvest
problem that currently prevent double cropping of rice. (photo)

Seed Producer
Penda Cisse, FEPRODES, President of the West African Women Farmer’s
Association (FEPRODES). It is composed of 346 farmer’s group. FEPRODES
under the able leadership of Mme. Cisse. Supplies quality seed in West
Africa. Recently, 1,000 tons of seeds were distributed within Senegal,
Mauritania and Guine Bissau. She has worked with national research
organization and AfricaRice since 1990 and has multiplied seeds of all
popular Sahel varieties grown in Senegal and Mauritania. She is now
stimulating women to go down the value chain line and produce quality
rice of Dakar market. She is a leading and inspiring figure for women
seed producers in West Africa. She is truly a worthy recipient of the
outstanding rice entrepreneur award.
(photo)